


Abuse

by Hikato_chan



Category: Under the Red Hood, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Bruce is a terrible father, Dick needs a hug, Gen, I really don't know what I was thinking, Kidnapping, but kinda hate batman, but kinda in the background, i mean he isnt evil, injury i guess, jason tim and damian are good brothers, the team is there, they care, this is hardly a happy ending, tw: abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-10-22 05:29:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17656823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hikato_chan/pseuds/Hikato_chan
Summary: After a mission, the team is attacked and Nightwing is kidnapped. During their hunt to find him, the team finds out some uncomfortable truths.Set during the five years between season one and season two, dick is already nightwing and tim is robin. The team is mostly the original team from season one without any newcomers, yet. Kaldur is already gone from the team though





	Abuse

It had been at a normal mission debriefing that they were attacked. The attacker had gone unnoticed by the security measures and the tired heroes, and when they noticed he was already flooding the room with gas, leaving all but one member paralyzed on the floor. With his team lying behind him, Nightwing was the only one who was unaffected by the gas. He and his attacker. Red Hood.

Wordlessly Nightwing shifted closer to his team, alert but confused. The other chuckled a bit.

“Relax. I’m not here to hurt _them_. I’m here for you.”

Red Hoods Guns had not gone unnoticed by Nightwing, especially not since he was now staring right into the barrel. He slowly eased himself out of his stance.

“Why?”

Red Hood chuckled again, a sound bordering madness, and Nightwing furrowed his eyebrows.

“weeeeell, right now I am planning to create a small group of four special birds. The two youngest have already agreed, the only one to invite now is the eldest.”

Nightwings face switched between surprised, relieved and confused before settling into a more impassive mask.

“for what?”

“To fight against _him_.”

Nightwing shuddered.

“You can’t.”

“Why are you standing up for him?! He is at fault for most of your scars, for most of _theirs_ as well! He has beaten us so often I have a whole book with moments when we flatlined! You can’t really- … oh.”

It was as if something had stolen red Hoods air right out of his lungs. His voice was calmer when he continued.

“You are scared of him, aren’t you?”

Nightwings dread could be felt through the telepathic link which they didn’t even need to establish. They had linked up so often that their minds did it automatically when they were in reach. It was a part of them.

Slow steps walked towards the frozen Nightwing, closer and closer until his paralyzed teammates screamed over the link that he had to move. He didn’t seem to hear them.

Red hood stopped just a few feet away, putting away his gun, and stepped right into Nightwings personal bubble. He hugged him, surprising Nightwings teammates. Even more surprising was that the strong feeling of dread slowly ebbed away.

As if on automatic, Superboys super hearing connected itself to the link to share with his teammates. It was more like muscle memory.

After a few seconds Red hood whispered to Nightwing.

“I’m sorry.”

He got no verbal answer, but Nightwing seemed to curl a bit more into the hug, arms still at his side.

“I forgot that you were the one that had been with him the longest. Even though you always protected us, it was you who was scared the most, wasn’t it?”

Nightwing trembled.

“It’s okay. Just let us protect you now.”

Nightwing seemed to think. He kept up a troubled expression even as he made his decision, knowing that his time was running up, and used the telepathic link.

_He is going to kidnap me. Stop batman from taking the case._

He didn’t have more time, as Red Hood stepped away a bit and brought something to Nightwings neck in a fluid motion. A second later he crumbled into Red hoods arms, unconscious.

Carrying Nightwing Red Hood walked away, calling to them in a bored voice.

“The gas will fade in twenty minutes.”

And they were gone.

-

When batman got to the mountain the young heroes were suiting up again. Megan noticed him and apologetically said “Sorry, we have a mission of our own.”.

They left in a matter of minutes. When Batman looked into the security system all cameras were showing static in the last hour. Whatever mission they had, Batman had no information.

-

Finding out where red hood hid wasn’t too hard. Nightwing had long since created a file with locations that only the team had access to, and they simply had to fly close and notice if their link with Nightwing was established again. Red Hood, so they found out, hid in an empty warehouse that was relatively new but was never fully constructed. The construction company went bankrupt.

Slipping in was easy, there was an open window in the upper part of the warehouse to regulate the temperature, but hiding was a lot more difficult as the warehouse was completely empty safe for a small strange sitting area with two couches.

They were lucky that the warehouse had a second floor, well more like a path going along the walls for better sight. It was the only hiding place so they lied down on the floor and robbed towards the strange sitting area.

When they were close enough they noticed that Red hood and two other Hooded figures sat on the one couch while the other was occupied by a still unconscious Nightwing. They were about to make and attack plan when a thought came through the telepathic link.

_Stay there and watch. There are things that you have to hear._

Under them Nightwing stirred before slowly sitting up, holding his head in his hands.

“What happened?”

Red Hood reached up and took his mask off.

“I kidnapped you.”

Nightwing looked up to meet his gaze.

“Oh, yeah. That happened.”

A small giggle sounded from the smaller hooded figure.

“Not quite awake yet?” the small figure said as he stood up and switched couches. A soft smile formed on Nightwings face as the younger figure leaned into him and he straightened up a bit.

Red Hood and the other hooded figure smiled as well.

After a moment they became serious again.

“So. The reason we kidnapped you.”

Red Hood searched for words for a moment before continuing.

“We are going to kill Batman.”

The team above tensed.

_Don’t._

“I am not asking you to help us, we simply wanted you somewhere safe for when we do attack him.”

Red Hood stopped speaking, waiting for a reaction. Nightwing was shaking lightly again.

“You are going to lose. You know how he is. He is going to kill you.”

Red hood barked a laugh.

“Again? Well doesn’t he do that no matter what we do?! Do you even know how many times he beat you half to death?! How many times he poisoned or ambushed you?! You have a stunning death rate of 34 times that your heart has stopped! And at least twenty of those were from beating you to death!! Some of those because you were shielding us.”

He slowly ran out of steam. Nightwing was shaking noticeably.

“You are our older brother, Dick. We aren’t going to let him do that to you anymore.”

Nightwings answer broke in the middle.

“I’m fine.”

It was obvious that he wasn’t, not with the way his hand gripped his hair or how he just couldn’t stop shaking. Or stop the sob tearing through his throat. Wordlessly the small figure climbed into his lab, back against his chest as he let himself he cuddled. As if in sync, the other hooded figure and Red hood switched couches as well.

Silently, Nightwing cried. He could still see the scenes before his eyes. And through the link his team could see them as well. Some were too fast, some seemed prolonged. Some were just black, some were bloody red. Some showed himself, some the other Robins.

_This is what I wanted to show you. How batman trains his robins._

Nightwings crying continued, as did his memories. After some minutes he took off his mask and buried his face in who they assumed to be the current robin. Slowly he calmed down. Robin spoke.

“Hey Grayson, are you feeling better?”

Nightwing snorted slightly before burying his head in Robins hood again.

_And now you know my ID._

_… You’re Richard Grayson?_

_Yepp. The little wing on my lab is Damian, Red Hood’s name is Jason, the second robin, and the one who hasn’t said anything yet is Tim aka Red Robin. My brothers._

Dick focused on his brothers again.

“So what exactly are you planning?”

Jason gave him a small happy grin for going along and he returned a small watery smile. Tim answered instead of Jason.

“Actually, since we do not expect you to join in the attempt on his life, we thought that maybe we could use you kinda as a hostage? Jason would act like a madman and threaten to take your life, and if you are right and he still cares just a bit about us he won’t let him.”

It was a common argument Dick gave ever so often. Batman was so hard on them because he cared, because he thought it would help them. As much as they didn’t see that, they knew Dick saw things they didn’t. Still, it was risky.

“We thought that we could maybe lead your team to you once Batman is dead so they can rescue you.”

Nightwing nodded, not liking that he would be unable to help but also agreeing that it was a plan that might work. He tried not to think about the fact that it would be murder. Strangely he did not hear any complains from his team.

_Are you guys okay with this?_

Unconsciously his eyes flickered to where they hid. His brothers noticed.

_After what he did to you? I think we all agree that we do not care what happens to him._

A chorus of agreements sounded through the link.

“Dick.”

Damian shook him out of his thoughts.

“Is your team near?”

Startled he blinked.

“You get that far away look when you do something with that link.”

“Oh.”

He blinked again.

“Yeah, they’re close I think.”

His brothers tensed.

“Okay, we are taking the tunnel underground. Dick we have to knock you out again.”

He nodded, then thought about it and spoke up.

“Before we leave we should write a note to Batman about my kidnapping. My team doesn’t seem to be moving.”

“A note?”

“Something crazy to get Batman to come alone.”

Jason smiled. Taking out a piece of paper and a red pen he started writing. After about the half he turned to Dick.

“You don’t mind giving up some Blood to make this more interesting do you?”

Dick shrugged and held out his arm. They made a small cut and dropped a few drops on the paper.

Before he was knocked out he spoke to his team.

_Take the note to Batman, maybe say something about being unsure how to proceed. Remember to follow him._

As Jason knocked him out he briefly wondered where his no killing policy was disappearing to.

-

On the note that the team picked up stood in bright red:

Hello Batman!

Are you wondering where your golden boy is? Because I don’t! I have him right here with me and I will make sure that I’m not the only broken Birdie in our family! How do you think will he respond to being blown up? Why don’t you come by and find out? I only have one safehouse with a lab, but you shouldn’t take too long, or you might not be here for the grand finale, and remember that you’re the only one invited Bats. Or you will find the boy wonder in pieces :)

Red Hood

P.S. Here’s some of his blood, first drops he has lost so far!

-

When the team returned, Batman stood in front of the computer. He scanned over them.

“Where’s Nightwing?”

Wordlessly Megan handed over the note.

Batman turned and left briskly.

-

Shortly after Batman left they left to the location themselves, staying there hovering camouflaged over the small building. The link established itself automatically.

_Is Batman here already?_

_No, not yet. But I think I see him coming._

_Okay, keep me updated._

Batman was indeed alone as he arrived.

_He’s walking in. We are going after._

_Okay._

When Batman arrived to the underground lab the team was already in the air vents closing in to the room as well. They were only a corner away, able to hear everything but not see. Dick had asked that of them.

The sight Batman walked in on was peculiar. In the middle of the room stood something that looked like a cryostasis cell, yet it wasn’t frozen. Inside was Nightwing, paralyzed but conscious. Around the cryostasis cell stood two hooded figures and in their middle, Red Hood. They turned around in sinc.

“Oh, Bruce. How nice of you to join us.”

Even through the voice modulator it sounded deranged. Batman took a step forward.

“Ah ah ah, not so fast. You wouldn’t want Big Bro to breath in poison, would you? It’s just one press of a button away.”

Batman didn’t move again. Red Hood smiled under his mask.

“What do you want.”

Batman’s voice was gruff and it was oh so strange that he was actually taking the threats serious or cared enough. Maybe they really shouldn’t have doubted Dick.

“Easy. It’s a really simple deal. Your life for his. As soon as you are dead we will let him go.”

Batman stayed silent, mulling it over.

_It’s suddenly so silent, what happened?_

_He’s thinking about it I think. Can’t see much from inside the cell though._

As Batman wasn’t saying anything, Damian looked up to Dick and then to the Button. He resignedly closed his eyes as an answer. Damian exchanged a look with Jason and he spoke up.

“Well, would you like a little demonstration first?

_What are they doing?_

_Poisoning me a bit…_

_What?!_

Red Hood pressed the button. The reaction was instant. Dick let himself writher in pain as hid muscles constricted. Another punch of a button cleared the poison out and let the antidote in. Slowly Dick calmed himself down.

_Nightwing, are you ok?!_

_Yeah. It was just a little pain, nothing too bad._

_Are you sure, because we heard you writher in pain and Batman gasp._

_It hurt, but not as much as it seems. That’s why we chose that toxin._

Batman stared at Nightwing and he looked back tiredly. Impassive.

“When I am dead, how can I be sure that you won’t kill him too?”

_He looks almost shaken._

The team could hear the guilt in his voice. Yet he told them again to stand down.

“Hmm, well. I suppose my word doesn’t count? You wound me. Well if Red Hoods word doesn’t count…”

He unlatched his mask.

“Maybe Jason Todd’s does?”

His voice sounded deranged and the smile on his face matched in madness.

“You see, Either you, Bruce, or Dick have to go. You choose.”

Batman nodded.

“Then I’ll trade myself for him.”

The next the team heard was a gunshot.

-

It took five minutes before Dick gave the ok for the team to head into the room. His brothers were gone, and he was still in the cryostasis cell, though the cell was open. Batman was lifelessly lying on the ground.

Nightwing was still paralyzed, but it was slowly lessening. When he could move his legs again he collapsed next to Batman’s corpse and cried. His team sat with him in silent support except Megan, who was calling the league. Superman picked up.

“Batman is dead.” She found no more words to say. She dropped the call. Ten minutes later the whole league was present, staring lost at the team comforting a crying Nightwing. They didn’t ask, not yet anyways. They simply took the corpse and the team to the tower.

-

When they got to the Watchtower, Nightwing sat down to tell them what happened. His team stood behind him. The older heroes looked slightly uncomfortable with having to get him to tell, but he paid them no mind. Instead he slowly searched for words.

“Okay, I guess I will start at the beginning. A few hours ago at the debriefing for our last mission we were attacked. The attacker was the criminal Red Hood. He used a nerve toxin to paralyze us, I am however immune to that particular toxin. Threatening to shoot my paralyzed team he got me to not dodge and knocked me out.”

Megan continued the story.

“Red hood kidnapped Nightwing and as soon as we were able to we followed his trail to an abandoned warehouse. When we got there, Red Hood had already switched places. He left a note for Batman though. On it was the location of the lab as well as a few drops of Nightwings blood. We brought the Note to Batman and he left. We followed.”

Nightwing took over again.

“When I came to I was in a cryostasis cell. I could not move but I could tell though the link that my team was close. When Bats entered the room I told them to stand down. I- I thought he could handle it. He and Red Hood talked, something about how either I or Bats had to die. He filled the cell with poison gas as a demonstration. He told Bats to choose. He chose me over himself and let himself get killed. I called the team, but red hood was already gone.”

He sounded more and more apathetic as he recounted it. As he looked into the older heroes faces he just looked tired.

“I guess now that he is dead there is no reason to keep our identity hidden anymore.” He motioned over to the Corpse. Nobody stopped him from continuing.

“He is- was the Billionaire Bruce Wayne. I am Dick Grayson.”

The other heroes blinked.

“Not who you would suspect, right?”

His voice had no humor. He just sounded done. He looked to Superman and stood up.

“I’m taking his corpse with me. Bruce Wayne will have been shot at home by an attacker who could flee. Batman will be sighted but less. We can’t have anyone make a connection.”

They looked at him surprised. He smiled an empty smile.

“I work when I mourn. It keeps me upright.”

Megan opened her mouth and he fell into her word with a sad smile.

“I’m not fine, but maybe with time I will be.”

With that he took the corpse and left.

-

The funeral for Bruce Wayne was two days after that. His will dictated for Dick to inherit his company and his manor, and asked him to adopt his brothers. The hardest thing might have been that shortly after the funeral, Alfred left.

With time the manor became livelier again. His team came over every once in a while, his brothers ran through the halls squabbling loudly. They became brighter. The feeling of ‘I am safe here’ got connected to the mansion, to their home. It was a lot work, but they could make due. They could do this. And in a way they did.


End file.
